41

Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 24.11.08 - How effective are cancer screening tests?

« on: 13/11/2024 20:56:13 »

Obviously, the amount of faith you put in a PSA test might depend on how far from normal the results are.
I went to the Dr with relatively mild symptoms.
PSA over 400 (should be less than 4.5 for someone my age)
Metastatic prostate cancer.
With luck, drugs and radiotherapy, I might have another 5 years.
I'm not yet 60 years old.

It's impossible to know what difference regular screening would have made but... maybe I'd be due to reach state pension age.

42

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 12/11/2024 16:18:31 »

Here's what Chatgpt says.

Can you get it into your head that ChatGPT is monumentally stupid?

https://community.openai.com/t/incorrect-count-of-r-characters-in-the-word-strawberry/829618


Your post is like saying "I asked a five-year-old and they said..."

Stop using it.

43

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Understanding Ancient Latin...

« on: 12/11/2024 10:32:43 »

Are they speaking Latin?

If you are talking Africa and Latin, a huge quantity of Africa was French colonial, and French , a common language as Arabic throughout Africa.

If you take an archeological look at the Latin in the French language, as you can see in the following video on vowels , vowel combinations spelling, contrasted to the consenants sets endings and prefixes,
French is composed of half Roman soldier and half barbarian ............................... WHERE IT WORKED TOGETHER !!! (alike it's people's appearance, it shows)!

There is an "uncanny similarity" there!

Sorry... was that meant to be "yes" or "no"?

44

Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology / Re: Understanding Ancient Latin...

« on: 11/11/2024 10:40:06 »

Yet when African Americans don't use the verb to be, it's considered nonstandard.

Are they speaking Latin?

45

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 10/11/2024 11:31:30 »

Re "What do you mean in this post?"
I meant "The ZPE can't be lost to anything (including any sort of friction) because that would mean that the molecules stopped vibrating and that would violate uncertainty.".

My conclusion is that the motion associated with the  zpe is frictionless (strictly, lossless).

46

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 09/11/2024 16:15:29 »

Because you expect that friction would cause molecules to stop vibrating

That's the exact opposite of what I said.

47

New Theories / Re: Stationary model of the solar system

« on: 09/11/2024 10:58:40 »

This stuff is so far into the "not even wrong" category that I feel it should be closed/deleted

I second that suggestion.

48

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 07/11/2024 10:43:20 »

How do you completely block radiation from the environment?

Why did you think that question was relevant?

49

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 04/11/2024 09:57:00 »

Considering the types of friction above, I think the answer is yes.

Then you are wrong.
The ZPE can't be lost to anything (including any sort of friction) because that would mean that the molecules stopped vibrating and that would violate uncertainty.

50

Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 24.11.08 - How effective are cancer screening tests?

« on: 03/11/2024 13:43:52 »

we can confidently state that any 50-year-old in the First World has a 50% probability of developing a cancer of some sort, and half will be fatal, so there's little point in testing with less sensitivity.

You and I might be over 50, but quite a few people aren't.

51

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 03/11/2024 13:39:04 »

We Cannot Feel Temperature

In this installment of "Thermal Shorts", I explain why metal feels colder than wood, even though they are at the same temperature.

Content:
0:00 Intro - We cannot feel temperature
1:00 The Mechanics behind Heat Conduction
2:43 The Description of Heat Conduction
5:05 The Ice Cube Experiment

This issue is interesting physiology; it is not physics.

52

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 03/11/2024 13:38:21 »

Where did you make that statement?

Do you think that the zero point vibration of a lattice has friction?

53

Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 24.11.08 - How effective are cancer screening tests?

« on: 02/11/2024 12:06:24 »

There's nothing special about cancer tests.
Any test - even if it's the tensile strength of a ball of wool or the alcohol content of your home brew- is only useful if there is something you can do with the result.*

If some test tells you that you have a more that 10% chance of having (for example) pancreatic cancer, what do you do with that information?

If you can get an MRI scan or whatever to check, that might be useful.
But there probably aren't enough MRI machines for everyone to get scanned for all the (probably mainly false) positive test results.

So the only real outcome for most people (who can't buy their way to the front of the queue at the scanner) is increased worry.


*  This isn't strictly correct. I worked in a chemistry lab for ages so I know  the other use of a test is "selling it to other people".

54

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Does catnip get cats high?

« on: 31/10/2024 11:00:04 »

For experienced users at least part of the effect is psychosomatic.

55

Physiology & Medicine / Re: Why Is There No Point For Taking Supplements?

« on: 31/10/2024 10:57:27 »

I obviously don't get a hundred percent of the percent daily value in my food everyday. No one could. You'd have to eat a bushel of vegetables just to do that. So obviously I am deficient.

How did our ancestors survive?

56

Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Does catnip get cats high?

« on: 30/10/2024 12:11:37 »

The effect appears almost instantaneously which would rule out an intoxication as there is no time for absorption.

Ever seen someone smoke a cigarette?

57

Just Chat! / Re: What is the purpose of the conductor in an orchestra?

« on: 29/10/2024 12:13:08 »

"What is the purpose of the conductor in an orchestra?"
Grounding.

58

Question of the Week / Re: QotW - 24.11.01 - If dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, would humanity have emerged?

« on: 25/10/2024 10:34:32 »

If dinosaurs hadn't gone extinct, would humanity have emerged?

Ask a chicken.

59

Physiology & Medicine / Re: What Are The Advantages To Taking Vinegar Everyday?

« on: 25/10/2024 10:33:37 »

Some say that it lowers blood sugar and treats high blood pressure.

Who says that?
Have they done a proper trial?

60

New Theories / Re: what is temperature?

« on: 24/10/2024 14:24:32 »

OK, so, do you recognise that the pendulum was an analogy for the ZPE?
And do you realise that, in this context, there's no energy loss?